If I had $2.80 for every time I've seen players with enough experience to know better make a complete balls-up of the Laws of Cricket, I'd be a permanent fixture at the bar. To date, this has been moreso players from other clubs than ours, but I'm going to try and do my bit to make sure we don't embarrass ourselves. Here are some common misunderstandings I've seen - please add yours (or correct mine).

The difference between a wide and a no-ball off the pitch

A delivery that lands on the prepared surface but is too wide for the batsman to reach is a wide. The bare concrete on which Simpson turf or malthoid is laid is not part of the prepared surface.

If the batsman hits a delivery that has been called wide, the wide is invalidated, the delivery becomes like any other, and the umpire should indicate this.

A delivery that lands anywhere off of the prepared surface before it reaches the batsman is a no-ball. If the batsman hits such a delivery it is still a no-ball.

A batsman can be out stumped from a wide, but not a no-ball, so the distinction is important.

LBW

If a batsman is struck by a lawful delivery on the full, in line with the stumps, and has not struck the ball with his bat or glove, he is out LBW. The umpire must assume the ball would hit the stumps.

A batsman can be out LBW when struck outside the line of off stump only if he has not played a genuine stroke at the ball.

However, if the ball pitches outside the line of off stump and strikes the batsman in line with the stumps, it does not matter if he was playing a stroke or not - it is just a regular LBW decision.

Boundary 6s and fences

A ball striking a boundary fence on the full is a six. These were formerly fours, but a few years ago the ICC decided that for consistency's sake, the actual boundary is the line, real or imaginary, on the ground and following the path of the physical structure which indicates the boundary, whether fencing, rope, trees, cones, etc. Therefore, when the ball hits such a structure, it would obviously go over the boundary before landing and should be a six.

There, that's a good starter. And if you reckon that's hard to digest, I'll start a topic on common scoring stuff-ups...

Speaking of scoring errors you wanna check out the 7ths book from the weekend. The team is made up of a great bunch of kids, who are easy to captain, and there is a bit of cricket talent there too, but God almighty they couldn't score on the Fair Star, and how hard is to aknowledge the umpire, I was begining to appreciate why Shovel Head Rees got worked up all those years ago.